Work on Roma stadium 'to start in spring (3)

Inaugural match in 2020-21 season - Baldissoni

(ANSA) - Rome, December 6 - Work on AS Roma's new stadium
will start next spring at the latest, club General Manager
Mauro Baldissoni said Wednesday after the project got a
technical green light Tuesday night pending definitive
city-council and regional-government votes.
Baldissoni said the inaugural game there would be in the
2020-21 season.
He said "the objective is to open the building site at the
end of April or at the latest the beginning of May 2018...in
order to have a construction time that may vary from 26 to 28
months.
"And thus to have the 2020-21 season as a reachable goal".
The project is still subject to "various administrative
passages", he said, including the council vote on modifying the
city's urban plan "and then there will be a new passage in the
regional government that will give the definitive certification
to build".
Earlier this year Roma President James Pallotta warned he
would sell up the Serie A club if the Lazio regional
government does not approve the project for the swanky new
stadium in the south of the capital.
The club had significantly scaled down the much-delayed
project, inspired by the Colosseum, axing two office towers to
win the backing of Mayor Virginia Raggi.
As Roma has long desired its own private stadium, along the
lines of the Juventus Stadium.
At present they share the publicly owned Olimpico stadium
with crosscity rivals Lazio.